Throughout his professional life, the poet Thomas Moore (1779–1852) was variously celebrated and vilified for both his verse and his politics. Born in Dublin, he remained an ardent Irish patriot until his death. This eight-volume collection of Moore's memoirs, diaries and letters, edited by his friend Lord John Russell (1792–1878) and first published between 1853 and 1856, provides rare insights into a man whose genius was applauded by the Morning Chronicle as 'embracing almost all sides of imaginative literature, of criticism and philosophy'. Volume 8 opens with a portrait of Moore in later life and a view of the valley where he died. This final volume contains Moore's diary for the period 1845–7, prior to his descent into dementia. A selection of correspondence from 1799 to 1847, Russell's postscript and an index to the eight volumes complete the work.
